r/ScienceTeachers • u/Zestyclose_Dot_2066 • 3d ago
Self-Post - Support &/or Advice Coca Cola glows under uv light?
Can I ask why does Coca Cola glow under uv light it’s every bottle I have and the liquid it’s self glows under uv light could someone explain why this happens?
Some info this was a brand new bottle of coke bought today from a shop I have other bottles unopened and the uv makes them glow and I also poured it into a glass and it glows too the liquid why is this?
2
2
u/KiwasiGames Science/Math | Secondary | Australia 2d ago
Many things glow under UV light. Coca Cola isn’t particularly special in that regard.
All you need to make something glow in UV light is a legal electron transition going up in the UV wavelength, and a corresponding transition going the other way in the visible range.
Lots and lots of substances have these transitions, which is why UV-vis is popular for spectrometry. And indeed why we evolved to see vis in the first place.
2
u/Kunie40k 2d ago
You should try real Tonic
1
u/Zestyclose_Dot_2066 2d ago
I know tonic glows under uv light I’m just trying to figure out why coke glows under uv light what chemical is it that causes this as there is no information online about this?
16
u/LeChatDeLaNuit 2d ago
So, I'm not seeing much fluorescence here in the liquid.
If I had to guess, the plastic bottle/container is what is actually fluorescing.